


Just Happy

by HalfASlug



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alcohol, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 04:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10846620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfASlug/pseuds/HalfASlug
Summary: Ellie and Hardy share a moment together after Daisy's birthday party.





	Just Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from whatisthepointofyouhardy on tumblr: drunk Hardy.

The barbecue had been put out hours ago but the smell of overcooked sausages still lingered on Hardy’s decking. Daisy’s birthday had been a success as far as Ellie could tell. After her rocky start in Broadchurch, she’d managed to make a few good friends and seemed a lot happier than when Ellie had first met the girl.

Leaning on the fence and watching the majority of the party laughing on the beach, Ellie dropped the bin bag she had been using to clean up to enjoy the last light of the day. The breeze whipped her hair off her face and she exhaled a sigh of contentment. From what she could gather from the excited chatter, the plan was to gather a few tents and for the teens to sleep on the beach.

Daisy had told Hardy they wouldn’t be drinking and he’d told her there was no point in lying and to just be sensible.

“I was your age, darlin’,” he had pointed out over her protests. “I know what happens.”

She had caught him ten minutes later texting PC Bob about making sure the night patrols including that section of the beach.

A pair of arms slipped around her waist and Ellie leant back, recognising the faint smell of Hardy’s shampoo. He buried his face into her neck and placed a string of scratchy kisses leading up to her cheek.

Since that fateful night at the pub when he had clumsily asked her out, Ellie had learnt that Alec Hardy craved affectionate touches as much as he detested social interaction. It had taken her nearly a month of him casually touching her arm or back for her to stop jumping. It was rare, however, for him to slip into full PDA.

She squirmed away from him to look over her shoulder. His cheeks were flushed and there was lazy almost-smile playing about his lips.

“What’s got into you?”

He shrugged. “‘M’just happy.”

“Sure it’s not all that wine?”

“Maybe.” He grinned and Ellie mirrored it. Seeing him completely relaxed was a recent luxury that she had only recently been exposed to. There was nothing quite like seeing the usually uptight and grumpy Hardy stretching out like a cat in her bed and even laughing.

(Not that he ever succumbed to all-out belly laughs that left him crying. It was more of a silent chuckle that light up his face like nothing she had ever known. It was still incredible, as far as Ellie was concerned.)

Hardy sighed and rested his chin on her shoulder. “My wee bairn’s all grown,” he mumbled into her ear.

“Love it when you talk Scottish.”

“She was so tiny,” he continued, his accent, thicker than normal, rumbling in his chest so she could feel it against her back. “Now look at her.”

Ellie looked out across the beach and could just make out the flowing blonde hair of the girl in question.

“She’s a bit tipsy and trying to build a sandcastle.”

She felt him chuckle and burrowed further into her Hardy cocoon.

“Aye. I’m proud of her. So proud,” he finished at a whisper.

“I know. You should be.”

“Best thing I ever did. That girl.”

Ellie squeezed his arm. The warmth from the wine she had drank herself was still making her head fuzzy. She had seen him slip into his more melancholy moods enough times to spot the signs and had no desire to go there now. The whole day had been wonderful. Even when Tess had dropped Daisy off that afternoon, the three of them had managed to be civil to each other.

All she had to do was keep Hardy from being a bloody misery for a couple more hours and it would be perfect.

“Look at you,” she said peering back at him, “going for father of the year!”

He scowled. “Nah. ‘M’not.”

“No. You’re pretty close though.”

He glanced at her smile before looking away again. “Shut up.”

“No. You’re an amazing dad! And not just to her.”

Ellie had said the last part without meaning to and hated how her voice had cracked on the last word. She hastily looked back at the beach and hoped he hadn’t heard her or was too lost in his own thoughts to comment.

None of it, not her avoidance or his possible reaction, could stop the statement being true though.

Tom had been behaving better at school. It hadn’t passed her notice that it took Hardy an extra hour to pick Tom up from football on Sundays than it should have done. She wondered where the pair of them went; if Hardy took him to the new ice cream parlour by the harbour or if they just drove around talking. It made her wonder if it was part of the reason Hardy volunteered for the job in the first place.

As for Fred, he couldn’t get enough of his Uncle Alec. The fridge was littered with scribbled stick figures he insisted were the man who once couldn’t remember the boy’s name. When they started appearing on Hardy’s fridge, Ellie had nearly dropped the cup of tea she’d been holding at the time.

It wasn’t as though Hardy had been making a point of being a father figure for her boys to try and win her over either. It was like he accepted them as part of being with her. Like he genuinely enjoyed the time he spent with them.

Ellie hoped she was developing a similar relationship with Daisy. It was hard to get a read off the girl who could be just as taciturn as her father, but she had hugged her earlier when she had given her a birthday present. She supposed that was progress of some sort.

She closed her eyes, safe in his arms, and listened to distant waves. It had been so long since she had been so content. Hardy pressed a kiss just under her ear. It was as close to a perfect moment as she could have hoped for.

Hardy mumbled something against her skin before pulling back to speak more clearly.

“I love you.”

Ellie’s eyes snapped open.

“What?”

Hardy groaned. “Don’t make me say it again.”

Whereas before, they had both been relaxed, relying on the other to hold them up, now they were both tense. Ellie had forgotten how to breath as her mind raced to make sense of the simple sentence Hardy had just breathed into her ear.

“But…” She cleared her throat. “But you meant it?”

She felt him nod against her neck where he was still hiding his face like a child admitting to wrongdoing. It made her glad he couldn’t see the blind shock on her face. He deserved better. He deserved someone who would throw themselves at him, shower him in affection and never let him forget just how special he was.

That wasn’t her.

She was hesitant to tell him how she felt about him even when he laid himself bare to her. She awkwardly joked her way through their first date, first kiss and first time, terrified to admit how far she had already fallen. She was so broken from her last marriage that trusting him, the most honourable man she had probably ever known, took every ounce of strength she possessed.

And yet, he loved her.

Broken, angry and scared Ellie Miller.

He hugged her tighter for a moment, kissed her shoulder and sighed. Without a comment on her lack of response, he went back to watching the horizon with her. She felt him smile against her skin and wondered if he felt lighter than he did before.

Perhaps she wasn’t the only one anxious to open themselves up to another person.

Perhaps he wondered every night what the hell she was doing with him.

Perhaps together they could find a way through the darkness and heal.

“Okay,” she said, her voice barely there over the tears that had began to fall. She lifted his arm and kissed his hand. “Okay.”


End file.
